The two weakest points on the page are known as fallow corners (upper right and lower left). An element placed in the fallow comers must be strong enough to attract and hold the eye of the reader.

Directional lines of force, whether real or implied, are what causes the eye to move from the primary optical area through both fallow comers and finally end up at the terminal area.

When laying out pictures, you must locate the directional lines of force and use them to build reader interest. Then you must force the eye of the reader to flow with the story. Lines of force may be established by picture direction, or they may be formed by other elements, such as a headline, a copy, or the shape and size of a photograph. The most important thing to remember is that the directional lines of force should direct the reader from one area to another. (See figure 1-7)

COMPOSITION

Composition in layout may have several patterns. For example, the elements of layout can be arranged in the form of pyramids, inverted pyramids, Ss, or reversed Ss.

When the layout consists of two or more pages, you should establish unity between pages. This can be affected by continuity of photographs from page to page or by extending a photograph or title across the gutter (margins between pages).

Photographs for a picture story or picture essay should be edited until only the photographs required to tell the story remain. You must decide what number of photographs to use for the story as well as what form of composition to use. Often, the content of the photographs will assist you in making decisions about the compositional form.

As discussed previously, the lead photograph in a picture story or essay should be "eye catching" and create impact. The lead photograph does not have to be placed in the primary optical area; however, it should be placed in the layout so it sets the theme for the story. Similarly, the end or closing photograph should produce a feeling that the story has ended.

After the photographs are selected for story-telling content, you should construct thumbnail sketches to assist in determining the best layout for that particular story. A thumbnail sketch is a rough sketch idea of the layout. You may have to construct several thumbnail sketches before deciding on the best layout fig 1-8.

You should crop the photographs on an easel during printing, and print them to correct size for the layout. By knowing layout size and using a thumbnail sketch to determine relative size, you can determine the exact size to print the photographs.

When cropping is required after the photograph is printed, you should place a sheet of thin paper over the photograph. Mark the thin paper, rather than the photograph, with crop marks. Crop marks are lines or dashes, in pencil, that indicate where to crop the photograph.

SCALING

Scaling is the procedure whereby you calculate the size that a photograph is to be reduced or enlarged. The simplest method for scaling your pictures is to use a common diagonal. Place a sheet of tracing paper over the picture being scaled and draw a diagonal line on the paper over the picture or where the crop marks are indicated. Determine the size of the finished picture along the bottom. Now raise a perpendicular line until it meets the diagonal line; this is the height of the finished picture.

When you use the diagonal method of scaling, everything that is in the original print, or indicated within the crop marks, will be in the scaled reproduction.

Figure 1-8.-Thumbnail sketch for a double-page layout.

When laying out a page or display, you should consider carefully where to establish the margins. The margins should be equal at the top, bottom, and on the outside with a narrower margin at the gutter. A copy should never extend outside the margin, although photographs may do so when they bleed off. Bleeding off is when the photograph extends to the edge of the page. The space between photos, text, and headlines should be one half of the space of the gutter.

The layout is a showcase for displaying your photographic skill. The entire layout must be functional, and it should be invisible, It should not call attention to itself, but rather to the underlying story. The best way to achieve an invisible layout is to avoid gimmicks. Fancy background, photographs cut at odd angles, and collages are totally unacceptable in a professional layout.

UNITY

When the story requires more than one page or display board, you must position and align the page elements (copy, pictures, headlines, and cutlines) to establish unity. Each page should have one dominant element. This can be a large photograph, big headline, or copy set in a special way. Unity must continue from page to page. You can do this by story continuity or by a headline or photograph that runs across the gutter.

Remember, no matter how the various elements and pages are unified, they must present a total package that is easy and convenient to read. This is the whole purpose of layout.

Figure 1-9 shows an example of how unity is maintained. Notice that if you use large photographs

Figure 1-9.-Maintaining unity.

on page 1 and extend them on to page 2 that the photographs run across the gutter. Thus unity is maintained by using a "Banner" type of headline, a large copy block, and photographs.